Born in Southern Australia, Adam Elliot is possibly Australia's most successful director of short films. His 23-minute claymation, HARVIE KRUMPET, won three of the four major prizes at the 2003 Annecy festival, the world's premier animation showcase, and it received an Academy Award®. HARVIE also won the Melbourne International Film Festival's Best Australian Short Award. Elliot stumbled into animation: he badly wanted to be a vet, but ended up studying graphic design. Still restless, he deferred from study and sold handpainted T-shirts down at the St Kilda market for five years. He loved the lifestyle and the cash, but still thought, "Is this what I'm going to do for the rest of my life?" On impulse, he went to the Victorian College of the Art's Open Day and applied for film school. Elliot made his first claymation in 1996. While at the VCA, Elliot had the idea for UNCLE -- his quirky, fascinating character study -- and wanted to do it as drawn animation. But his lecturers convinced him to try a different tack. The result was UNCLE, the first installment of a trilogy that includes COUSIN (1998) and BROTHER (1999). HARVIE KRUMPET is the peak of this richly observed body of work, a unified aesthetic that elevates ordinary characters over extraordinary situations. Since the success of HARVIE KRUMPET, Elliot's credits include a video of selected comedy shorts ("#5", 2007) and MARY AND MAX (scheduled for release in 2008).  Best Short Film (Animated) 2003: HARVIE KRUMPET 1 nomination, 1 Award